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Can't we all just get along?

First off, sorry about taking a while to post my 333 Comments; I blame it on being nowhere near the PC for the most part over the weekend. Hopefully that won't happen too often... >.>

However, I'm actually taking a "holiday break" from MH right now. But that shouldn't stop me from posting a review a little quicker the next time a chapter comes out - barring any real-life setbacks. If you're a TRC fan, though, hopefully you've seen and enjoyed the special volume review (http://mangahelpers.com/forum/index.php?topic=11452.0) I did last week. I'll be doing similar volume reviews for miscellaneous manga whenever I can. ^^

One more thing before we move on to the credits. I just happened to get my copy of American Shonen Jump for January '07 today, which marked the fourth anniversary of that magazine's publication here. For me, though, it means that I've now been reading Naruto for four years! Boy, it's been a while. And recently, too, while still not exactly a household name yet, Naruto's now quickly becoming a phenomenon here in America - and it's rather interesting to say that I was a fan even before it caught on here in the States!

Credits time. Once again, gotta appreciate the Touch for all his RAW-hunting efforts, Hisshou, Bruce, Pinoy, and Winny for their terrific translations, and Yume for her quick scan, which I'll be using for the initial edition of this week's Comments. Also, many thanks to Twoshirou for cleaning my header. ^^

I'd also like to take the opportunity to offer my eternal gratitude to Eagle and his great French scanlation group, Japflap, for their outstanding HQ versions of the chapters. They've been delivering very nice work at a very quick pace since Chapter 281, which if you haven't been keeping count, is quite a while ago! You gotta hand it to them for (to paraphrase Montblanc from the superb FF XII game) burning the midnight oil so much! ^^

Hope you have fun with reading this week's Naruto Comments and as always, don't hesistate to post if you have any thoughts to add. ;)

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Doesn't have much pride, does he?

1. Wetting His Pants...!? Evidently, Hidan looked really, really deep into Shikamaru's black eyes at the end of the last chapter and didn't like what all he saw there, because he was shaken and whimpering with the best of 'em here!

Just goes to show you that first appearances can sometimes be deceiving. When Hidan first appeared - wielding his huge scythe with a smug face in the sewers of a Kaminari no Kuni village - he looked fearless and completely confident. Remember when we first saw him and Kakuzu chasing down poor Yugito, and Hidan saying, "I want her to kill me, just to get it over with, seriously?" Bold words, or at least they seemed at the time.

Of course, we now know the truth.

Now that we know about his incredibly cheap technique, we know that Hidan meant that if Yugito was to deal a fatal strike to him when he was in "voodoo" mode, that'd be the end of the battle - for her, and not for him. His death meant her own. Therefore, death meant nothing to him except as a means to victory.

Hidan's over-confidence brimmed from the fact that he had a trump card that didn't give most of his enemies even a fighting chance. In short, he's actually a coward who prefers to just shoot somebody with a machine gun from afar rather to engage in fair hand-to-hand combat.

Now that Hidan's immobilized by an opponent who knows exactly how to defeat him, though, he's not so sure of himself anymore, is he. He might be "immortal," but he probably has no desire to live the rest of his life as a decapitated head lying face down in the dirt!

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Now toss a soap into his mouth, he needs it...!

2. Let's Play 'Shika Says'...! Well, we didn't find out how long the time limit would have been on the 'chakra blades' holding Kakuzu and Hidan in place, because Shikamaru didn't take long to assert control of Hidan's body himself!

So we find out that the blades, while they effectively freeze the opponents, they're obviously no good for anything else until Shikamaru extends his own shadow in order to use one of the enemies as a "puppet" himself. Note that he still has to pull the blades out in order for his shadow to become dominant.

Still, not bad for when Shikamaru's obviously outnumbered and doesn't have the time to time his Kagemane fast enough to grab ahold of all of them. At least he can use these blades to even the odds a bit at times.

And most often than not - Shikamaru probably could just have thrown a kunai at the frozen opponent and that would be that. But in this case, I suppose it was just best to use Hidan's immortality to their advantage to try to take Kakuzu out.

At this point, though, I still wasn't sure why Shikamaru even bothered taking control of Hidan. I mean, Hidan's scythe probably wouldn't have been able to hurt Kakuzu at all, considering the dude's ability to harden his skin to steel, right?

(Though it was admittedly cool to see an Akatsuki "turn on" a partner and see them in an actual fight, if even for a moment. It does help fire up the imagination for all the conflicts they must have had with each other in the past...!)

Anyway, we did find out much later on in the chapter, though, why Kakuzu was sweating so much. Read on, true believers..!!

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Looks like he didn't need a hand after all...

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What do they drink down there in Takigakure, anyway..!?

3. Narrow Escape! As if Kakuzu's unusual ability to fire his arms like projectiles weren't convenient enough, he can even sever the threads attaching the limbs to his body without losing control of them. Imagine Kankurou being able to manipulate the movements of his dolls without having to use his chakra threads!

Also, Kakuzu proved himself to be pretty quick to act, too - by having his hand burrow into the ground the instant before he was frozen, and using it to grab ahold of Shikamaru's blade and throw it away from his shadow, he was able to free himself just in time to avoid Hidan's scythe.

The only thing I'm left wondering is what exactly is the story behind this ability of Kakuzu's now? Or is it even the same ability as before that he was using?

Looks as though he was controlling the blood inside his hand to drive it forward and also, back to him. That might be more chakra-consuming than the threads that had seemed to do the job before, which could be why he doesn't do it more often...?

Moronic, no manners, and extreme sensitivity to being name-called. Put the two in the same family and you'd never know they weren't related!

The only difference, though, is Naruto obviously doesn't get off on other people's pain...

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Round and round we go...!

5. Gangway...! Man, how long has it been since we last saw Chouji do this?

Except Chouji didn't even need to wrap a series of kunais around his body this time... all he needed was his hair! Wonder if Jiraiya gave him a few lessons...!

Diehard Naruto fans will remember that against Orochimaru, Jiraiya hardened his spiky mane in order to stave off Oro's kicks (http://img61.imageshack.us/img61/4567/narutoc16612kb4.png) (although it didn't work to keep him from being bitten.)

Well, now Chouji's used the same trick in conjunction with his rolling attack. Heh. (I would too, though, if given the alternative of wrapping my body with sharp objects. (http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/3089/naruto07tr4.png) Ouch. I wasn't exactly sure how 12-year-old Chouji had been able to arrange them on the ropes so that they didn't actually cut him, too, much less be able to move around easily!)

You know, before this chapter, I didn't believe that Chouji in Part 2 would still even use his body in that manner anymore. But I guess if it works, might as well stick to it!

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Kakuzu... you've just been Sharingan'ed!

6. A Watchful Eye...! This scene right here told me that the Kakashi travelling with Shikamaru was the genuine article after all. Surprise! It wasn't a henged Naruto after all, or even Kurenai.

Who else would be using the Sharingan to study the enemy's attacks?

Of course, later on we'd get even more confirmation that it's the real Kakashi, but thought I'd also take the opportunity to use Kakashi's patience here in order to show where exactly Asuma went wrong in the first battle with Hidan. Kakashi's obviously no stranger to the creed, "Know Thy Enemy." That's the key to victory - knowing what your opponent can do and figuring out a way to counter it.

And yup, for Kakuzu to HAVE to depend on making seals in order to activate his "hardiness," was the reason he was sweating so much earlier against Hidan's attack. I had thought that it was an automatic ability. Evidently not.

In that sense, Shikamaru's plan worked perfectly. In using Hidan to reveal Kakuzu's jutsus to Kakashi's keen eye, they were able to find a counter to it as we'd find out later on. Patience pays off in spades, again...!

Of course, to be fair, Asuma didn't have Kakashi with him the first time, but he did have Shikamaru. Asuma's team still moved on the offensive too fast, in my opinion. But I suppose it'd be hard to keep these two unaware of your presence for too long while you're spying on them, considering Kakuzu was almost immediately aware of Shikamaru's shadows last chapter. Ah, well...!

7. Packing a Punch Now...! Don't know about you, but looks to me as though Naruto would do just OK now even if his jutsu is still incomplete! Lookat that huge crater!

Yamato must be thinking about right now, "My god, Naruto was already a monster, we've just made him an even bigger one!" :XD

So, it's pretty evident that whatever Naruto's new wind-rasengan combo jutsu will look like, it's certain to cause a greater extent of damage. That's still all we pretty much know at this point - but could we still be seeing the after-results of an unconcentrated blast? Remember, it took a while before Naruto learned how to focus the Rasengan enough to compress the force correctly, might he still be having the same troubles here?

Either way, if his new jutsu is going to be that violent, he'd better be darn well careful about who he hits with it. Looks like he still may not be able to control the range and accuracy just yet, and I don't think he's going to want to "nuclear bomb" Sakura by accident!

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You mean all it takes is a fan to beat Kakashi!?

8. Lesson Time...! You know, I'm really surprised that Kishimoto doesn't take advantage of all these scenes where Naruto has to learn something to have a smiling Iruka come out of the bushes and do a little teaching. Not that I'm complaining. Yamato does make a fine sensei as any.

So we learn here that elemental manipulation isn't all it's cracked up to be. Much like a game of Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh, pulling out the wrong element can lead to disasterous results. Just imagine if Naruto does his 'ultimate jutsu' and Sasuke just happens to choose that same moment to belch out a fireball... charbroiled ninja, anybody?

Somewhat unnerving to know that even though you can master an element all you want (ie. Kakashi's Raikiri), there might always be somebody with the perfect counter to it out there. Guess Baku might actually stand a chance against Kakashi in combat with that "sword of wind" of his, though I doubt we'll ever see it happen now.

9. A Deep Affinity...! Heh, sometimes I feel like Sasuke doesn't deserve a friend like Naruto. Even when contemplating a way to defeat him with his new jutsu, Naruto's still not forgetting the fact that he's actually trying to bring Sasuke back, not fight him to the death. And to boot, he's also happy that he can be even more useful to Sasuke as a partner with his newfound affinity for wind!

That's Naruto for ya - he's still thinking of Sasuke as a friend and teammate even after all this time and the shocking betrayal.

Gotta admit, though, Sasuke might be better convinced to come back if he ever realizes that Konohagakure isn't made up of wimps like he believes it to be, and Naruto's still the best hope for snapping Sasuke out of his misery and isolation.

I also like that even though Naruto and Sasuke are becoming even more powerful by the day on their own, Kishimoto still remembers the importance of teamwork by having them begin to complement each other's abilities extremely well.

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Shocking, isn't it?

10. Kakuzu's Electrifying End...!? You just knew Kakashi would have a cool moment somewhere, and we get it right off the bat as he gets the drop on Kakuzu with a well-timed Raikiri right through the chest!

But no, I don't think this is the end of Kakuzu just yet. Although I don't think he anticipated that move at all, for an Akatsuki to go down to a thing like elemental vulnerability would just seem extremely anticlimatic. Not to mention Kakuzu does have an ability to control his body parts, and I wouldn't put it past him to be able to sew himself back up just as good.

One thing's for sure though - Kakuzu is on the ropes right now, and he's going to have a tough time recovering from this attack! All the while, they've still got to take care of Hidan. Be fun to see what happens next!

RATING: 4.5 out of 5 stars. Good action, but a bit too fast of a read. We got a little sidestory with the elemental vulnerabilities but there wasn't enough to really chew on, all things considered. So this chapter falls just barely short of a perfect rating.

Predictions: Kakuzu will somehow free himself from Kakashi's Raikiri and launch your classic "it's not over 'til the fat lady sings" counterattack. Hopefully we'll get to see Naruto's ultimate jutsu, and some signs of a backup team trying to catch up to Shikamaru's team.

Credits: Thanks to Yume for the HQ scan, Touch for the RAW, Twoshirou for the header and our translators here again. And thanks for your patience on waiting for this review!

very nice comments
as expected from you anyways i'd have to say i dissagree with you on Kakuzu
and yes if it was'nt for Kakashi tean 10 would 've died easily as Tsunade suspected

Robotic Red

December 04, 2006, 08:54 PM

1) Hidan: Veritable coward who's only got one good trick. Maybe. Who knows; perhaps the reason Akatsuki goes out in teams of two - aside from Zetsu - is so not only do they compliment each other's abilities, but also because they have someone to bail them out. But now with KAKUZU caught...Hidan's like "OH SNAP!"

2) Like rechargeable batteries. The longer they're in use, the more chakra they use. Then Shikamaru will have to recharge em'.

3) I wonder if those 'blood tethers' are part of a Kekkei Genkai...I mean, the last person we've seen with a confirmed body-related Kekkei Genkai was Kimimaro (Mr. Bones). I wonder what's stronger...bones or blood?

4) I lol'd. The Hidan/Kakuzu dynamic is relentlessly humorous.

5) And yet we still haven't seen Team 8 in action yet. -_-

6) When's the last time we saw Kakashi actually use a copied jutsu? You know...I think it was all the way back in the fight with Zabuza, using the Giant Waterfall jutsu. I'd love to see Kakashi show more of his repetoire. I mean, he knows over 1,000 jutsus! He can't just rely on Raikiri/Sharingan all the time.

7) I wager that, now that Naruto's gotten the hang of element manipulation, he might start branching off and learning/creating other jutsus. I'd personally LOVE to see Naruto use a concentrated version of the Futon; Rasengan (my name for the new jutsu: Wind Element; Spiraling Sphere!), like a spear or something. Or maybe five Shadow Clones attacking with Wind Blade, ala Baki!

10) And yes, Kakashi completely showed us why he's the best Jonin in Konoha. Notice the background behind him? The tree that Kakuzu had his back to has a BIG whole in it. And considering how LOUD Raikiri is...the fact that Kakashi went through a tree before hitting Kakuzu without ANYONE finding out is a testament to his skill.

1) Yep, when Hidan's in trouble, he starts to worry like a little girl! ^^

2) When you said that if Shika just threw a kunai at them and it would all be over, I was thinking, "that wouldn't be like Kishi at all!" Anyway, this battle has just started ...

3) Kazuku just gets creepier every time we see him ... managing to pump blood into his detached arm. Maybe Orochimaru could've experimented on him or he could've just experimented on himself. Kankurou's attacks would be much more effective in battle if there weren't charka threads, but then it wouldn't be puppetry.

4) Yeah, I was thinking Hidan and Naruto were kinda similar ... losing their temper when they've been called a name. The expression on Hidan's face is just priceless.

5) It has been a long time since we saw Chouji in action, I'm glad to see he has advanced in terms of attacks. Although, I was hoping to see some new jutsu, but we could see some more action from him in upcoming chapters. Maybe he did go to Jiriaya for a little training ...

6) Team 10 is lucky to have Kakashi with them. The fact that Kazuku has to perform hand seals to activate his defence, could be the thing that spells his doom.

7) I was thinking that crater was from some kind of explosion, not from the completed jutsu, but from something going wrong ... Lol at Yamato's expression.

8) I'm surprised Naruto actually understood that, I was thinking that Yamato would have to explain it a couple of times, but it seems Naruto gets it.

9) After all this time Naruto still wants to bring Sasuke back more than ever, seeing that his new jutsu is nearly complete. He truly cares about Sasuke, too bad he doesn't return the same feeling.

10) I didn't see that one coming. Even Shika looks surprised, maybe it wasn't part of his plan. Even though things look grim, I don't think this is the end for Kazuku yet ...

Keep up the good work!!

kiddo7

December 04, 2006, 10:34 PM

Now this is what I call a good chapter!
Its great to be able to read your review GK-sama, did you notice inuyasha's? it is even shorter than Raine's wrap up.
Anyway, lets get this going.
1. So it turns out that hidan is exactly the kinda selfish, spineless, anoying, disgusting, lowlife excuse for a human being, if he even calls himself that, who think they are all that when they are tormenting others, have absolutely no decency in themselfs, have not even the slightest clue as to even a shade of the meaning of honor, and then have the nerve to start crying and getting indignant when they start to taste even a fraction of their own medicine. The sort of selfish jerks who think all the world is there to cater to their needs and that they should be allowed to do to every body whatever they want without having any consequenses for their actions, the type that believe in fairness and justice when they are beeing wronged but have no regard for t at all when it concerns others, people who measure the value of human life only by wheather they themselfs are doing fine. I could probably go on and on about the type of worthless person I see in Hidan but I think by now most of you should have gotten an idea of my opinion of him. however if you really want to hear it you can pm me and I might just let you wittness the full extent of my apreciation of his carachter.

2.gotta admit i did not realize exactly what shika was doing here at first, I did not understand why he pulled out the knife and I thought that INo was controlling Hidans bady, but i went back and re read the part a few tiomes and then there were some early reviews out and all that got streightend out. But yea about shika attacking kakuzu using hidan, i just thought that there might have been a version of his plan layed out as a safety to keep hidan from starting his imortality jutsu. Just think what would have happened if shika managed to would kakuzu with the scyth and then have hidan tase the blood. Would he still be a eager to start his ceremony? and would it not also have an effect on hidan? I just think that would have been a great way to create a stale mate had it succeded. But it did not, big deal!
I kinda think this will be the main theme of this battle my prediction is that shika has thought ought all possible moves the two villans can make an created a plant to counter for all of them. remember how the told his team members to memorize a number of scenarios? I beleive this fight will show hidan and kakuzu finding little loop holes and trying to use their opportunity and shikas team always having a counter ready for it. I beleive we will see a lot of panles with shoked faces on both sides but in the end shikamaru will have the last laugh. remember shinos battle with kankuro? something like that, only on a much grander scale and with more people in the game.

3. As much as I look down on Hidan, I must say that I do respect Kakuzu. Ok he may be out to get money and he may be selfish and evil in his own way. But he does think things through he is not spineless and he does not add uncalld for insutlt to injury after he has defeated his oponents, he does not play with his victims at least as far as we have seen. Also I respect intelligence be it in hero or villain. And Kakuzu is definately one of the brighter ones. He might be able to compete with shika for a while and i too beleive that he has something up his sleve (no pun intended) that might keep him in the game for a while. Though I hope he does not turn out to be immortal in some way too that would just be such a turn off.

4. Since we are making rediculous asumed connections here (true and funny as they may be), We could also say that hidans hand could be a relative of naruto, who also used to defeat disproportionaly advantageous opponents using the conseal-n-burrow approach. the question is will shika again use the whole in the ground to leangthen his shadow and launch a sneak attack at some unsuspecting akatsuki member?

5. Good show there Chouji, the first heavy hitter has arrived! Choujis upgrade to the nikudan hari sensha was actually much more significant than not having to wrap sharp objects arround his body, although using his hair is a rather cool touch that makes you kinda wonder what connection the akamichi clan has to jiraiya. I gues it is rather expected that some people would miss some of the other, more subtle, but definalty usefull upgrades. Like the fact that he now no longer requires the baika no jutsu to preform this stunt, not only does this make him look cooler and more like an adult because he no longer is blowing himself up like a loony toon, and retract his appendages like a turtle, but also because he can pereform this skill much faster now. Chouji has definately increased the most in coolnes in my eyes because he was really a very awkward character in the first part but now he is just bad-ass.

6. Now we have to watch out to whom we give credit to. I understand that Kakashi is one of, if not your most favorite character and also that he would have most likely acted similarly of his own accord but in this mission, it is much safer to assume that he is following shika's plan, and therefore his "patience" should be atributed to shika's genious in covering all his bases. And on the henge issue, I remember saying that it never occured to me on first reading that it might not be the real deal, it was only after hearing the many theories on MH that I agreed that they sound very plausible, but deep down inside I still kinda hoped and thought that it was really our one eyed sharingan user. And I was right yay!

7. I just really love the captions you give these images, they always make me laugh. Radioactive kids FTW!
Yeah about the "new Jutsu" I honestly am trying not to have an opinion on it before I see it completed. Quite a number of thrads have appeard to mecilessly bash both naruto and the jutsu in the last month, and i can't say that i agree with that. I am sure Kishimoto knows what he is doing with all this and I want to see where he is going with his story withought having any wild expectations of mine interfere. "And that is all I have to say about that..."

8./9. You know there are these fan made flash animtions out there on naruto right? I can just see one being made based on your caption for this pic, hillarity!
I beleive this realation of the gamble involved in the elements and naruto's new statement have a big role yet to play in the maga especially in its resolution, whenever that might be. Note this might be the fastest that naruto has understood a theoretical lesson, he does deserve a lollipop for that one. ( might be wrong on this one though)
And about sasuke not deserving naruto as a friend and naruto being something else. this might be the reason we like the series. Narutos power that Tsunade aluded to in earlier chapters, his ability to make people want to trust him. I think I am begining to figure out what it is. Simply, true, unadultarated, unconditional, pure, LOVE. It does not have to be deserved it does not even have to be returned, it is entirely selfless, unlike all other portrayals of love we are familiar with. This is something that has become rarer than atmosphere in outerspace in our modern fiction and even to some extent in our ways of thinking. We inseperably associate love with an emotion and with romantics. We would define it as something closer to a supercharged longing. But if you think about it really love is much more than that. Love is a consious decision to give the target of your love preferance in every aspect imaginable. In the case of Naruto and Sasuke it would mean that he thinks Sasukes happiness is more important than his own, but also that sasukes presence and company is more precious than that of another, also that sasukes life is worth more than his own. I can probably not give a very good explanaiton of this concept but I guess I don't have to because all you have to do is observe Naruto to get the picture. And this is in no way a Yaoi reference ok! some people just have to grow up! I could probably go on about this topic for a while making a fool out of myself. But seeing as this is not my expertise and that love is not the topic under discussion here...
lets move on.

10. Awesome kakashi move! this guy just rocks! nice pun by the way.
this will be another favorite for many color artists just like asumas head chop. Well this fight is sure getting interesting and I agree with you that it is most likely not over yet. That said kakashi is lucky he is good at close quarters fighting because if kakuzu survives this one then he should be expecting some hefty retaliation, assuming kakuzu is not too damaged to attack full tilt. Really can't wait to see this animated.
Until next time.

glasskatana

December 04, 2006, 11:07 PM

I have four things to say.
1.) Kakashi is awesome :nuts
2.) I find that the invention of Naruto's new jutsu actually won't benefit him much in terms of saving Sasuke. yamato said "your new jutsu can defeat Chidori" but that is a grave understatement. I believe the correct statement would be something more along the lines of "your new jutsu will crush chidori, and whoever happened to try to counter your new jutsu, into oblivion, never to be seen again" so personally I can't see him using that jutsu against Sasuke. I mean, Naruto's regular Rasengan is even with Chidori.
3.) On a similar note, I think something very important has been overlooked (unless I overlooked the person who looked at it) yamato says that using a wind jutsu of equal strength would simply make the fire stronger. Much like blowing on small flame to make it larger. But a wind jutsu of more strength should still put that fire out much like blowing out the candles. In other words, Naruto would have to use a more powerful wind jutsu to simply cancel out a less powerful fire jutsu, and an even stronger wind jutsu to actually overcome it. So hope is not lost for Naruto.
4.) This chapter made me wonder if bloodline elements have any weaknesses. Just food for thought.

Great comments as always. :amuse

kiddo7

December 04, 2006, 11:31 PM

Great observation about wind and fire. I second that wholeheartedly. It would be painfully cheeky if it is imposible to beat fire jutsu with wind, the skill factor must also have something to do with it.

7. I wonder how he was able to make a big crater with him in the centre and not hurt himself. Created a big crater and while landing into it? =/

8/9. Makes me wonder if Sakura's element is water.. More about that below.
(Bit off topic. And why haven't we seen her do any illusions? She's good at releasing/knowing about it/etc. but we haven't seen her use genjutsu.)

10. I wonder if Kakuzu's got his heart elsewhere... Unlikely, but just a thought.

Wrote this while I read the chapter:

I wonder if Naruto can do 'full body' Rasengan or something..
Since, well, Naruto always get to learn something that's equal in style(?) as Sasuke.
Whatever it is, it does explain Kakashi's injuries.

Naruto will definately get a chakra metal made weapon soon. I've thought about that (and something similar to 'full body Chidori') for a long time now..
What kind of weapon will Naruto get, I wonder...

lightning<wind<fire
Interesting how that worked out.
I know Kakashi can do water jutsus well, but is that his second element? That'd be able to win against Sasuke based on element order. Sasuke/Kakashi<Naruto<Sasuke(/Itachi)<Kakashi???(/Kisame)

Shall read other comments tomorrow. Very late now, and cannot concentrate. x.x

*thumbs up and ping!*

One Eyed Sharingan

December 05, 2006, 12:59 AM

1. hmmm i don't hate Hidan (ever), i think Hidan just a guy who always speaks what's in his mind, if he thinks it's dangerous, he just says it...
I think Kakuzu would think that they were in a dangerous situation, but he just didn't say it.
And i don't think that Hidan's a coward either (well as far as i know, he was the only one that ever yelled at the Akatsuki leader), and what's wrong with using machine gun in a fight? in these kind of fights, use whatever method that is most effective for you, and it proved that Hidan had killed many skilled foes using his curse jutsu.

I always liked the fact that the most of real life and death fights in Naruto were "unfair" (remember Deidara [with both of his hand chopped] once had to deal with: Kakashi [MS], Naruto [Kyuubified], Sakura [med nin], Chiyo [Puppeteer], Gai [Taijutsu Master], Lee [Taijutsu Master], Neji [Byakugan] and Tenten [weapon master]....and we didn't call those konoha/wind shinobis as "coward" for ganging up against armless guy). Those "unfair" situation makes the battles "real"

3. kekkeke i like this, surely Kakuzu used the smoke to hide his hand in the ground, but... the one thing that keeps us from knowing that is...that Akatsuki getup... those robe sure are come in handy to conceal what u are up to ^_^. Evidently Kakuzu is good

6. Heh that's to be expected from Kakashi, he was never been the one to hastily jump on a battle on his own (except when he was young)

8. Yamato said it: "careful of Sasuke fire jutsus"....meaning if Naruto is to use his wind jutsu wisely (read: don't just collide your jutsu with Sasuke's) there's no problem in using wind jutsu against Sasuke.

10. Yaaaaaay Raikiriiiiiiiiiiiii that was cool, iguess Kakuzu's done for
i guess Deidara forgot to mention that, aside Naruto...They need to watch out for Kakashi (heck, Kakashi was the one who chop Dedara's right arm and send his exploding clay bunshin to another dimension)

@ Robotic Red, the tree was trashed by Chouji's jutsu, Kakashi "simply" (that's real hard) sneak on Kakuzu back and hit him. Kakashi didn't reak through the tree, it would be too noisy for Kakuzu not to notice

Anywayy great comments as alway GK !!!!!

venicia777

December 05, 2006, 02:18 AM

1) Well, i like Hidan's characterization thus far. I mean thus far who has spoken back at the Akatsuki leader like hidan did? He isnt that smart and he jumps into fights. He talks big when he has the advantage and when he is in trouble he starts whining and acknowledges the dilemma. At least, this means he is honest.

I mean, Kishi did a terribly good job on Hidan.

Lets look at another angle.
Of all the Akatsuki characters thus far-- who has elicited such raw emotions of awe (voodoo witch doctor) and dislike (eg killing Asuma with a cheap jutsu as some call it and being an ego-maniac) so much. You either hate him or dislike his guts. His character is really refreshing-- He is not an uber strong cliched cool smart witty character. But a character that evokes strong emotions whether you like it or not-- without you even realizing.

Thats good writing on Kishi's part.

Ok, going back to what i have been saying, i think Hidan started crying when he saw who had caught him. The same guy that help make sure that his head got chopped off.

2) i honestly adore shika's tactics. I am sure most of us didnt even expect him to use Hidan. Most were thinking of some super complex strategy that could probably win this fight for this team. Heck i loved it. First take out Hidans short to mid range advantage (his scythe), freeze him and Kakuzu, ANd then the party begins.

the ingenius part was that Shika was not just having the order right this time, but he was using the known(hidan) to fight the unknown(kakuzu) whose abilities he didnt see much of in their last encounter. With Kakashi in the background, this fight (hidan vs kAKUzu), was probably partly to reveal Kakuzu's jutsu's to the sharingan and then a possible counter(sharingans properties). Hidan's counter was already known by the way.

Will continue this later :p

bax

December 05, 2006, 03:00 AM

Ahahaha... like Glassie said.... I'll open this comment with :

:kkanbu KAKASHI IS TEH AWESOMENESS :kkanbu

1. Personally, I still think that Hidan is too much overrated and Shika seems to agree with me on this ^^ Hidan is strong, even stronger with his immortality jutsu. But, like Itachi said "Every strong opponent has a weakness". Up until now, we haven't saw what that immortality jutsu's weaknesses are, but Hidan biggest enemy is his ego.

2. Yeah.. I'm pretty much surprised with Shikamaru. The only thing he lacks is high damage finisher. Looks like Shikamaru's brain is far better than two Akatsuki members. If only Shikamaru has a finisher at the caliber of Rasengan/Chidori, he doesn't need Kakashi at all ^^ (in terms of plans).

3. I don't know the exact word (forgive my lack of vocab), but Kakuzu's ability looks like a mustard jelly in Dungeon & Dragons series. It can be harden and at the same time flexible. No wonder the big door at the temple was easily destroyed. If Kishi is as cliche as a human can be, Kakuzu's biggest threat will be ice >.> Too much Dungeons & Dragons.... Neverwinter Nights 2...

5. Yeah.. I'm starting to thin that Hari Jizou is actually from the Alkimichi clan >.<

7. Now... what with that huge crater? :XD How big is the new Rasengan to create that crater? A crater that big, must be created by huge tension of power concentration. Now, the power is already proven extraordinary even at its incomplete state. But, the only problem and still the only problem is, will it be practical in combat? (in terms of making it)

8. I thought this chart will come out the first time elemental Chakra was introduced to us. I won't be saying about water>fire or wind>lightning. But I'm really interested on Kekkei Genkai right now ^^ Where does Wood fits? How about Ice? Ice = Water + Wind. Fire>Wind but Water>Fire. Now Water>Fire>Wind... Where is Ice?

10. I don't think Kakuzu is done yet. It's still too early. Shika couldn't have made a complete plan against Kakuzu even if he has IQ of 1000. He didn't see Kakuzu's powers except for the tendrils, sewing ability and possibly body hardening. But the fact is, he doesn't know to what extent the powers are. Even he doesn't understand at all how Hidan's powers works except for activating it.

Hehe... Good comments :kkthumbs

Iwanin

December 05, 2006, 03:30 AM

You gotta hand it to them for (to paraphrase Montblanc from the superb FF XII game) burning the midnight oil so much! ^^

*Sigh*... yappari ka.... It seems I'm indeed the only one who's not crazy about Final Fantasy XII. I guess this means I don't know what makes a good RPG, and thus I shouldn't be thinking about doing it for a living.

Hope you have fun with reading this week's Naruto Comments and as always, don't hesistate to post if you have any thoughts to add. ;)

I never have. :)

In that sense, Shikamaru's plan worked perfectly. In using Hidan to reveal Kakuzu's jutsus to Kakashi's keen eye, they were able to find a counter to it as we'd find out later on. Patience pays off in spades, again...!

You gotta wonder if it was really part of Shikamaru's plan, though. Both he and Chouji seemed surprised when Kakashi made his attack. I'm guessing Kakashi improvised a bit based on his Sharingan analysis.

Yamato must be thinking about right now, "My god, Naruto was already a monster, we've just made him an even bigger one!" :XD

IIRC, the original line is "kore hodo to wa na"... which translates literally into something like "to think it's this [powerful]..." So he's referring to the (degree of) power of Naruto's jutsu, as opposed to Naruto himself.

Waitaminute, doesn't candles go out with a strong wind... >.>;[/center]

Yes, but you also need to"fan the flames" or they'll go out. Basically, if the jutsu are at the same level, fire wins - but if they're at different levels (strong wind), fire goes out.

That does not explain, however, how it is that wind beats lighting and how it is that lightning beats earth. I guess you could argue that electric current doesn't easily go through air, but earth dissipates it... that's why you "ground it." But then again I failed electric circuits in College, so don't listen to me.

9. A Deep Affinity...! Heh, sometimes I feel like Sasuke doesn't deserve a friend like Naruto.

... Sometimes? :p

Nah, I always think back to the time Sasuke sacrificed himself to save Naruto from Haku's needles...I mean, he *did* literally intend to die for him right then and there. He also volunteered his pitiful life for Naruto in the fight against Gaara.

I also like that even though Naruto and Sasuke are becoming even more powerful by the day on their own, Kishimoto still remembers the importance of teamwork by having them begin to complement each other's abilities extremely well.

Which makes me wonder if Sakura will be "earth" - supposing we see her develop elemental jutsu, of course. It's a defensive element, mostly, so it would suit her well. Then again, if Kishi's intention is for Naruto and Sakura to fight Sasuke *together*, then maybe water would work best: water >> katon, wind >> raiton.

But no, I don't think this is the end of Kakuzu just yet. Although I don't think he anticipated that move at all, for an Akatsuki to go down to a thing like elemental vulnerability would just seem extremely anticlimatic. Not to mention Kakuzu does have an ability to control his body parts, and I wouldn't put it past him to be able to sew himself back up just as good.

One thing's for sure though - Kakuzu is on the ropes right now, and he's going to have a tough time recovering from this attack! All the while, they've still got to take care of Hidan. Be fun to see what happens next!

The last time Kakashi said "Owari da" (it's over) was when he was fighting Zabuza for the first time... and we all know how *that* turned out.

Kakashi should learn to watch his mouth.

Still, I wouldn't be surprised if Kakuzu *did* die from that blow.Posted on: December 05, 2006, 03:25:06 AM_________________________________________________

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/1315/01lj9.jpg
Doesn't have much pride, does he?

He also did not use the word "fuck", since it doesn't even exist in Japanese to begin with. "This is, to put it bluntly, really bad", is what he said. ;)

1. Wetting His Pants...!? Evidently, Hidan looked really, really deep into Shikamaru's black eyes at the end of the last chapter and didn't like what all he saw there, because he was shaken and whimpering with the best of 'em here!

Actually, he was covering himself from the presumed blast when he was caught by Shikamaru's jutsu. Thus the wuss-looking posture. Check out the last panels of the previous chapter.

One Eyed Sharingan

December 05, 2006, 04:27 AM

You gotta wonder if it was really part of Shikamaru's plan, though. Both he and Chouji seemed surprised when Kakashi made his attack. I'm guessing Kakashi improvised a bit based on his Sharingan analysis.

yup, and as an addition, Kakashi was the only one that wasn't surprised when Kakuzu breaks out of Shika's jutsu

Actually, he was covering himself from the presumed blast when he was caught by Shikamaru's jutsu. Thus the wuss-looking posture. Check out the last panels of the previous chapter.

and he was shaking cuz he is trying to move/outpower Shika's jutsu

The last time Kakashi said "Owari da" (it's over) was when he was fighting Zabuza for the first time... and we all know how *that* turned out.
At least now he said the words after he blows the fatal strike kekekkekeke

Stiluz

December 05, 2006, 09:39 AM

Nice observations GK, still, one question: Don't you love Hidan? ;_;

CupofDice

December 05, 2006, 10:14 AM

2. I have a problem with Shika using Hidan's weapon so easily. It seems like it would have taken more than a bit of skill. Kishi probably agrees since he didn't actually show Shika moving Hidan. Hmm. Maybe Shika practiced?

3. My guess is that it has something to do with magnetism.

5. Chouji the Hedgehog :XD (first video game I ever played by the way). I guess Naruto growing his hair and taking after his master will never happen :(. I guess he is his own person and all that. :noworry

6. Yeah I didn't see this the first time I read the chapter, but I guess I lack the Sharigan. Nice that Kishi shows off the Sharigan seeing everything no matter how fast. There probably is some special requirement (like bloodline or experimenting on your body) to do it, or else Kakuza is done. There probably is or every other earth user would have/use that jutsu.

7. My favorite page of this chapter and Yamato's reaction was sweet. Also a nice counterpoint to Yamato's Doryu Joheki and how he got a bit cocky?. Naruto can probably tear that to shreds now. I wonder if Yamato thinks Naruto can pass the fourth now.

8. Well the Buzz scanlation says "So if you countered Sasuke's fire jutsu with a wind jutsu of the same strength, you will only make the fire stronger." I think it opens the door for Naruto's ultimate jutsu beating any normal Katon from Sasuke. Now if Temari and Sasuke fought (I am totally ignoring the anime here) Sasuke's fire jutsu should win. Hmm, a thought just popped into my head that Temari's weasel uses wind manipulation on that sickle. Well not important :eyeroll. Anyway my belief is that Sasuke can do Amaterasu (or variation?) and that could be what he was going to unleash on team Yamato. Not as strong as Itachi's though. Something that Naruto's jutsu can equal. Of course this would bring up Naruto's own mystery jutsu, but that could have been a fluke on Kishi's side????????? :blink

10. Seems like Kakashi deviated from Shika's plan since they were a bit shocked :tem to see him there or maybe they were just amazed at Raikiri. Either way Kakashi rocks. I still think Hidan is dead and hopefully Kakashi is the one who takes him out. I will really hate to see Kakashi being saved by Naruto from both of them. Taking out Hidan and needing rest sounds good to me. I think Deidara is around somewhere too. Hopefully this arc is leading to a bigger Akatsuki battle.

I agree with your score. Over too soon, but two days till Thursday. :smile-big :smile-big

Absolutio

December 05, 2006, 11:20 AM

First of all, great comments as always =D

I, too, don't thing that kakuzu is done yet, but far from that, I think that this attack won't effect him at all, and might be used even for his advantage (since Kakashi is now stuck with his hand in Kakuzu's chest).

The elemental weaknesses and strengths are really messed up here, in my opinion anyways. You can't just draw a circle and explain it like that. It should be more reasonable like Pokemon, or whatever.

3.) On a similar note, I think something very important has been overlooked (unless I overlooked the person who looked at it) yamato says that using a wind jutsu of equal strength would simply make the fire stronger. Much like blowing on small flame to make it larger. But a wind jutsu of more strength should still put that fire out much like blowing out the candles. In other words, Naruto would have to use a more powerful wind jutsu to simply cancel out a less powerful fire jutsu, and an even stronger wind jutsu to actually overcome it. So hope is not lost for Naruto.
4.) This chapter made me wonder if bloodline elements have any weaknesses. Just food for thought.

In the fight with Haku, Sasuke tried to burn Haku's ice mirrors with a flame jutsu, and Haku said something like "your flame jutsu is far from the level it could melt my fire" or something like that. So I guess there are weaknesses and disadvantages to the combined elements, and it might be also a proof that even if the element itself is stronger, the jutsu has to be strong too to beat other strong weaker element jutsu.

fatboy812000

December 05, 2006, 01:40 PM

like i said one of the reasons to open the mangahelpers page GKs 10 comments. once again u echoed my thots on this chapter espeacially these facts 1. hidans not looking so tough now and 10. kakuzus def not dead (would be way 2 easy) and just in case pple were still wondering who the coolest character in d narutoverse is, we get a lil reminder :kkchidori.

N.B - Final fantasy fans unite!!!!!

ibra87

December 05, 2006, 03:00 PM

Great comments Gk. You hate Hidan from the very bottom of your heart, don't you? xD Don't blame you though.

Shikamaru controlling Hidan was pretty awesome. Seems like he can control him completely and without any trouble if he's using the chakra blade. Kakuzu having this weird body was bad luck. He could have removed his head right there!

And Hidan does seem like the idiot of Akatsuki, but then again so does Tobi. Some times youy get the same feeling from Deidara, but Deidara feels more mature. Somehow. Also I was hoping for a new move from Chouji! Damn it. If he's still using the same move, he should at least be able to pierce through steel >_> Damn it.

Naruto's jutsu seems to kick ass too. Although I think like you do, that it's still like how it was when Naruto was training with Jiraiya, an incomplete Rasengan and therefor creating this much damage. But if a rasengan destroys your internal organs, I wonder what this one does?

The element lecture was kind of..errm, obvious somewhat. Like you said, it's like most of RPGs. Each element has an advantage and disadvantage. And Naruto talking about how only he can save Sasuke was very sudden, but it's very Naruto-like. Oh what the hell. As long as he beats Sasuke to a pulp, I don't care what happens. I still believe that none can beat a Sharingan without a Sharingan in a 1-on-1 battle though! Maybe Naruto is different...

And seeing Kakashi pierce through steel and analyzing the situation was awesome! But I still don't believe that "he sees through all" is right. Like you said, I don't believe this is the end of Kakuzu. If he can move his hand around, why not his heart as well?

Somehow I believe that Kishi is trying to let Yamato prove himself to us and to Sasuke one more time, unlike last time where he got beaten by Sasuke. Kakashi goes to help Shikamaru and gets hurt badly, even faints from over-using the sharingan, then to save time Yamato is sent with team 10 to find and retrieve Sasuke. This time Yamato will also get serious, so it will be interesting. You see, I don't think Kishi wants to show us Kakashi Sharingan vs Sasuke Sharingan just yet! That would be too much for us to handle.

All in all, I loved your comments. But they seem like I said, a bit Hidan-negative :/.

Gold Knight

December 05, 2006, 03:33 PM

Sorry everybody, but it's not really a "break" if I'm still around a lot at MH, so I'm just answering what I can right now and I'll try to come back tomorrow to finish ;)

First of all, great comments as always, GK!

Thankies!

2) When you said that if Shika just threw a kunai at them and it would all be over, I was thinking, "that wouldn't be like Kishi at all!" Anyway, this battle has just started ...

I meant in most normal battles that we won't be seeing, of course Kishimoto would have to add more drama to his stories.

3) Kazuku just gets creepier every time we see him ... managing to pump blood into his detached arm. Maybe Orochimaru could've experimented on him or he could've just experimented on himself. Kankurou's attacks would be much more effective in battle if there weren't charka threads, but then it wouldn't be puppetry.

Well, Kankurou would still be controlling the dolls, so it would still be puppetry - it'd just be more convenient if he could do it with willpower instead of pulling strings, like a telekinetic.

But yeah, Kakuzu is definitely creepy. Reminds me a bit of Kroenen from the film Hellboy, always experimenting on himself to try to make himself immortal and invincible.

5) It has been a long time since we saw Chouji in action, I'm glad to see he has advanced in terms of attacks. Although, I was hoping to see some new jutsu, but we could see some more action from him in upcoming chapters. Maybe he did go to Jiriaya for a little training ...

I have a feeling that Kishimoto does not want to show us any "completely new jutsus" at the moment from Naruto's cast, because he's saving it all up for either another tournament or a mega-battle at some point. Right now, all we're seeing are "improved versions" of everybody's jutsus, which works for now.

6) Team 10 is lucky to have Kakashi with them. The fact that Kazuku has to perform hand seals to activate his defence, could be the thing that spells his doom.

Yes, and seemingly only the Sharingan was fast enough to detect the signs that Kakuzu was making at that time. Good thing Kakashi came along, indeed.

7) I was thinking that crater was from some kind of explosion, not from the completed jutsu, but from something going wrong ... Lol at Yamato's expression.

True, I commented some time ago that Naruto's "blasts" throughout the training seemed like it'd be enough to knock anybody unaware out silly.

8) I'm surprised Naruto actually understood that, I was thinking that Yamato would have to explain it a couple of times, but it seems Naruto gets it.

It's like when you're really interested in something, you pay more attention and try to "get it" faster. Naruto knew the subject concerned stuff he'd have to know when fighting Sasuke, so he had to understand it if he wanted to succeed at all.

9) After all this time Naruto still wants to bring Sasuke back more than ever, seeing that his new jutsu is nearly complete. He truly cares about Sasuke, too bad he doesn't return the same feeling.

Actually, judging from Sasuke's pained expression from a previous chapter in response to Naruto's shouts, I do think he cares. But right now his mission for vengeance is blinding him to everything else.

10) I didn't see that one coming. Even Shika looks surprised, maybe it wasn't part of his plan. Even though things look grim, I don't think this is the end for Kazuku yet ...

That's one thing Shikamaru lacks - immediate improvisation - that Kakashi does have (and Naruto, to a further extent). He can plan out his strategy and 90% of the time it'll work perfectly, but as Kakuzu said, not everything goes according to plan. Kakashi took advantage of the confusion to take Kakuzu out, and I love that about him - he doesn't pull any punches and just goes straight to the knockout blow, if he can. ^^

Now this is what I call a good chapter!
Its great to be able to read your review GK-sama, did you notice inuyasha's? it is even shorter than Raine's wrap up.

Yeah, I did. There's something to be said about concise thoughts.

Anyway, lets get this going.
1. So it turns out that hidan is exactly the kinda selfish, spineless, anoying, disgusting, lowlife excuse for a human being, if he even calls himself that, who think they are all that when they are tormenting others, have absolutely no decency in themselfs, have not even the slightest clue as to even a shade of the meaning of honor, and then have the nerve to start crying and getting indignant when they start to taste even a fraction of their own medicine. The sort of selfish jerks who think all the world is there to cater to their needs and that they should be allowed to do to every body whatever they want without having any consequenses for their actions, the type that believe in fairness and justice when they are beeing wronged but have no regard for t at all when it concerns others, people who measure the value of human life only by wheather they themselfs are doing fine. I could probably go on and on about the type of worthless person I see in Hidan but I think by now most of you should have gotten an idea of my opinion of him. however if you really want to hear it you can pm me and I might just let you wittness the full extent of my apreciation of his carachter.

Don't mince your words, tell us what you really think! ;)

2.gotta admit i did not realize exactly what shika was doing here at first, I did not understand why he pulled out the knife and I thought that INo was controlling Hidans bady, but i went back and re read the part a few tiomes and then there were some early reviews out and all that got streightend out. But yea about shika attacking kakuzu using hidan, i just thought that there might have been a version of his plan layed out as a safety to keep hidan from starting his imortality jutsu. Just think what would have happened if shika managed to would kakuzu with the scyth and then have hidan tase the blood. Would he still be a eager to start his ceremony? and would it not also have an effect on hidan? I just think that would have been a great way to create a stale mate had it succeded. But it did not, big deal!
I kinda think this will be the main theme of this battle my prediction is that shika has thought ought all possible moves the two villans can make an created a plant to counter for all of them. remember how the told his team members to memorize a number of scenarios? I beleive this fight will show hidan and kakuzu finding little loop holes and trying to use their opportunity and shikas team always having a counter ready for it. I beleive we will see a lot of panles with shoked faces on both sides but in the end shikamaru will have the last laugh. remember shinos battle with kankuro? something like that, only on a much grander scale and with more people in the game.

Shikamaru's plan was something like what Kidoumaru did to Neji, too - what Kidoumaru did was use his spiders and kunais to discover Neji's weaknesses.

Shikamaru is doing a similar thing - preparing his teammates to stay hidden and attack whenever Hidan and Kakuzu lets their guard down from any angle.

3. As much as I look down on Hidan, I must say that I do respect Kakuzu. Ok he may be out to get money and he may be selfish and evil in his own way. But he does think things through he is not spineless and he does not add uncalld for insutlt to injury after he has defeated his oponents, he does not play with his victims at least as far as we have seen. Also I respect intelligence be it in hero or villain. And Kakuzu is definately one of the brighter ones. He might be able to compete with shika for a while and i too beleive that he has something up his sleve (no pun intended) that might keep him in the game for a while. Though I hope he does not turn out to be immortal in some way too that would just be such a turn off.

I do think Kakuzu is a more respectable opponent too, myself. However don't forget that he did try to take Shikamaru out from behind without any warning once. But that's what most ninjas do, anyway...

4. Since we are making rediculous asumed connections here (true and funny as they may be), We could also say that hidans hand could be a relative of naruto, who also used to defeat disproportionaly advantageous opponents using the conseal-n-burrow approach. the question is will shika again use the whole in the ground to leangthen his shadow and launch a sneak attack at some unsuspecting akatsuki member?

I think you meant Kakuzu's hand. And Shikamaru's too busy with controlling Hidan right now.

5. Good show there Chouji, the first heavy hitter has arrived! Choujis upgrade to the nikudan hari sensha was actually much more significant than not having to wrap sharp objects arround his body, although using his hair is a rather cool touch that makes you kinda wonder what connection the akamichi clan has to jiraiya. I gues it is rather expected that some people would miss some of the other, more subtle, but definalty usefull upgrades. Like the fact that he now no longer requires the baika no jutsu to preform this stunt, not only does this make him look cooler and more like an adult because he no longer is blowing himself up like a loony toon, and retract his appendages like a turtle, but also because he can pereform this skill much faster now. Chouji has definately increased the most in coolnes in my eyes because he was really a very awkward character in the first part but now he is just bad-ass.

That's usually the way it goes with most people in real life too. A lot may appear awkward in childhood but when they grow up most often than not they'll surprise ya.

And sometimes (in the case of Hinata) some things never change!

6. Now we have to watch out to whom we give credit to. I understand that Kakashi is one of, if not your most favorite character and also that he would have most likely acted similarly of his own accord but in this mission, it is much safer to assume that he is following shika's plan, and therefore his "patience" should be atributed to shika's genious in covering all his bases. And on the henge issue, I remember saying that it never occured to me on first reading that it might not be the real deal, it was only after hearing the many theories on MH that I agreed that they sound very plausible, but deep down inside I still kinda hoped and thought that it was really our one eyed sharingan user. And I was right yay!

Shikamaru's plan may have allowed Kakashi the opportunity to see through Kakuzu's ability, yes, and it did appear that Raidou told them that he suspected that he had a hardening ability. So Shikamaru must have told Kakashi to try to counter anything Kakuzu tried to do since he was the only one with the speed and the eye to do that. I'm not too sure that Shikamaru actually expected Kakashi to act so soon, though.

7. I just really love the captions you give these images, they always make me laugh. Radioactive kids FTW!
Yeah about the "new Jutsu" I honestly am trying not to have an opinion on it before I see it completed. Quite a number of thrads have appeard to mecilessly bash both naruto and the jutsu in the last month, and i can't say that i agree with that. I am sure Kishimoto knows what he is doing with all this and I want to see where he is going with his story withought having any wild expectations of mine interfere. "And that is all I have to say about that..."

Glad you liked the captions, heh. And agreed, I'm not going to form too many opinions until I see it in the works. All we can do is predict, and that's a toughie...

8./9. You know there are these fan made flash animtions out there on naruto right? I can just see one being made based on your caption for this pic, hillarity!
I beleive this realation of the gamble involved in the elements and naruto's new statement have a big role yet to play in the maga especially in its resolution, whenever that might be. Note this might be the fastest that naruto has understood a theoretical lesson, he does deserve a lollipop for that one. ( might be wrong on this one though)
And about sasuke not deserving naruto as a friend and naruto being something else. this might be the reason we like the series. Narutos power that Tsunade aluded to in earlier chapters, his ability to make people want to trust him. I think I am begining to figure out what it is. Simply, true, unadultarated, unconditional, pure, LOVE. It does not have to be deserved it does not even have to be returned, it is entirely selfless, unlike all other portrayals of love we are familiar with. This is something that has become rarer than atmosphere in outerspace in our modern fiction and even to some extent in our ways of thinking. We inseperably associate love with an emotion and with romantics. We would define it as something closer to a supercharged longing. But if you think about it really love is much more than that. Love is a consious decision to give the target of your love preferance in every aspect imaginable. In the case of Naruto and Sasuke it would mean that he thinks Sasukes happiness is more important than his own, but also that sasukes presence and company is more precious than that of another, also that sasukes life is worth more than his own. I can probably not give a very good explanaiton of this concept but I guess I don't have to because all you have to do is observe Naruto to get the picture. And this is in no way a Yaoi reference ok! some people just have to grow up! I could probably go on about this topic for a while making a fool out of myself. But seeing as this is not my expertise and that love is not the topic under discussion here...
lets move on.

You said it all ^^

10. Awesome kakashi move! this guy just rocks! nice pun by the way.
this will be another favorite for many color artists just like asumas head chop. Well this fight is sure getting interesting and I agree with you that it is most likely not over yet. That said kakashi is lucky he is good at close quarters fighting because if kakuzu survives this one then he should be expecting some hefty retaliation, assuming kakuzu is not too damaged to attack full tilt. Really can't wait to see this animated.
Until next time.

Yes, that one should be fun to see in the anime, I agree. Thanks for commenting again ^^

I have four things to say.
1.) Kakashi is awesome :nuts

You said it GKjr!

2.) I find that the invention of Naruto's new jutsu actually won't benefit him much in terms of saving Sasuke. yamato said "your new jutsu can defeat Chidori" but that is a grave understatement. I believe the correct statement would be something more along the lines of "your new jutsu will crush chidori, and whoever happened to try to counter your new jutsu, into oblivion, never to be seen again" so personally I can't see him using that jutsu against Sasuke. I mean, Naruto's regular Rasengan is even with Chidori.

Very good point there.

As I said, Naruto isn't training so much to defeat Sasuke with this new jutsu as he is to try to help him with it. So if Naruto can convince Sasuke that together they stand a better chance of defeating Itachi than Sasuke would with Orochimaru, that would be the key to "bringing him back" to the side of the angels.

Your observation would seem to support that argument. Thanks ;)

3.) On a similar note, I think something very important has been overlooked (unless I overlooked the person who looked at it) yamato says that using a wind jutsu of equal strength would simply make the fire stronger. Much like blowing on small flame to make it larger. But a wind jutsu of more strength should still put that fire out much like blowing out the candles. In other words, Naruto would have to use a more powerful wind jutsu to simply cancel out a less powerful fire jutsu, and an even stronger wind jutsu to actually overcome it. So hope is not lost for Naruto.

I was thinking the same thing (hence my caption) but you made me think that it might actually be a possibility at some point, especially with Naruto's high constitution and the Kyuubi chakra. His ultimate wind jutsu may have to be even more powerful, but it COULD defeat Sasuke's fireball. We'll see.

4.) This chapter made me wonder if bloodline elements have any weaknesses. Just food for thought.

I think they do have drawbacks. We know the Sharingan does; Itachi obviously felt like he could only reach so far with his clan, and Kakashi's hinting that it might cause eye failure. I don't know about other bloodline skills but I think everything has its own price. We just don't know what yet.

7. I wonder how he was able to make a big crater with him in the centre and not hurt himself. Created a big crater and while landing into it? =/

He was probably the eye of the storm, so to speak.

8/9. Makes me wonder if Sakura's element is water.. More about that below.
(Bit off topic. And why haven't we seen her do any illusions? She's good at releasing/knowing about it/etc. but we haven't seen her use genjutsu.)

I think Sakura IS water, because her healing powers has more to do with water than anything else, I think. Hopefully we'll see more from her soon.

10. I wonder if Kakuzu's got his heart elsewhere... Unlikely, but just a thought.

Could be though. He seems more machine than man to me anyway.

Wrote this while I read the chapter:

I wonder if Naruto can do 'full body' Rasengan or something..
Since, well, Naruto always get to learn something that's equal in style(?) as Sasuke.
Whatever it is, it does explain Kakashi's injuries.

That would be interesting if he could turn himself into a huge Rasengan or tornado, heh. That's kind of reminscient of a Naruto cover around chapter 200, I think.

Naruto will definately get a chakra metal made weapon soon. I've thought about that (and something similar to 'full body Chidori') for a long time now..
What kind of weapon will Naruto get, I wonder...

We had that weapon discussion a while ago when Asuma was showing Naruto how to handle the chakra blades. I'm thinking right now Naruto's main weapon will still be a kunai for now, though.

lightning<wind<fire
Interesting how that worked out.
I know Kakashi can do water jutsus well, but is that his second element? That'd be able to win against Sasuke based on element order. Sasuke/Kakashi<Naruto<Sasuke(/Itachi)<Kakashi???(/Kisame)

I do think Kakashi has more than just one element mastery. I don't think it's water, though. His Sharingan does allow him to do over 1,000 jutsus, I'm sure it covers all the elements.

If anything my best bet would be earth, since he burrows underground so much.

Shall read other comments tomorrow. Very late now, and cannot concentrate. x.x
*thumbs up and ping!*

I understand how it is XD

1. hmmm i don't hate Hidan (ever), i think Hidan just a guy who always speaks what's in his mind, if he thinks it's dangerous, he just says it...
I think Kakuzu would think that they were in a dangerous situation, but he just didn't say it.
And i don't think that Hidan's a coward either (well as far as i know, he was the only one that ever yelled at the Akatsuki leader), and what's wrong with using machine gun in a fight? in these kind of fights, use whatever method that is most effective for you, and it proved that Hidan had killed many skilled foes using his curse jutsu.

Coward or not, Hidan didn't really look impressive in that first page.

And just to make something clear here, I guess I don't really hate him sooo much anymore... he's just too good a comedy relief character.

But I still don't really like him in serious situations.

I always liked the fact that the most of real life and death fights in Naruto were "unfair" (remember Deidara [with both of his hand chopped] once had to deal with: Kakashi [MS], Naruto [Kyuubified], Sakura [med nin], Chiyo [Puppeteer], Gai [Taijutsu Master], Lee [Taijutsu Master], Neji and Tenten [weapon master]....and we didn't call those konoha/wind shinobis as "coward" for ganging up against armless guy). Those "unfair" situation makes the battles "real"

I suppose you're right. I suppose it has more to do with the intent behind the jutsu. Hidan's intent obviously is more to humiliate people than anything else.

3. kekkeke i like this, surely Kakuzu used the smoke to hide his hand in the ground, but... the one thing that keeps us from knowing that is...that Akatsuki getup... those robe sure are come in handy to conceal what u are up to ^_^. Evidently Kakuzu is good

Yeah, very good point about these robes ;)

6. Heh that's to be expected from Kakashi, he was never been the one to hastily jump on a battle on his own (except when he was young)

^_^

8. Yamato said it: "careful of Sasuke fire jutsus"....meaning if Naruto is to use his wind jutsu wisely (read: don't just collide your jutsu with Sasuke's) there's no problem in using wind jutsu against Sasuke.

Yeah, but once Sasuke realizes what Naruto's jutsu is all about, he'll counter with more fire jutsus, I think.

10. Yaaaaaay Raikiriiiiiiiiiiiii that was cool, iguess Kakuzu's done for
i guess Deidara forgot to mention that, aside Naruto...They need to watch out for Kakashi (heck, Kakashi was the one who chop Dedara's right arm and send his exploding clay bunshin to another dimension)

Yeah, but that MS does take its strain on Kakashi and I doubt he wants to do it again so soon and be in the hospital for another week if he can help it.

Anywayy great comments as alway GK !!!!!

Thanks! ^^

1) Well, i like Hidan's characterization thus far. I mean thus far who has spoken back at the Akatsuki leader like hidan did? He isnt that smart and he jumps into fights. He talks big when he has the advantage and when he is in trouble he starts whining and acknowledges the dilemma. At least, this means he is honest.

[b]I mean, Kishi did a terribly good job on Hidan.

Lets look at another angle.
Of all the Akatsuki characters thus far-- who has elicited such raw emotions of awe (voodoo witch doctor) and dislike (eg killing Asuma with a cheap jutsu as some call it and being an ego-maniac) so much. You either hate him or dislike his guts. His character is really refreshing-- He is not an uber strong cliched cool smart witty character. But a character that evokes strong emotions whether you like it or not-- without you even realizing.

Thats good writing on Kishi's part.

Ok, going back to what i have been saying, i think Hidan started crying when he saw who had caught him. The same guy that help make sure that his head got chopped off.

I don't think Hidan even realized it was the same guy until later (remember he said "I remember you! I'm going to kill you!") - he's pretty dense. But I don't disagree with you that Kishimoto created a memorable character.

Don't forget, it's good writing whether you like or hate a character - as long as you feel something. If it's a boring character, that's bad writing.

So I don't have an issue there at all.

2) i honestly adore shika's tactics. I am sure most of us didnt even expect him to use Hidan. Most were thinking of some super complex strategy that could probably win this fight for this team. Heck i loved it. First take out Hidans short to mid range advantage (his scythe), freeze him and Kakuzu, ANd then the party begins.

the ingenius part was that Shika was not just having the order right this time, but he was using the known(hidan) to fight the unknown(kakuzu) whose abilities he didnt see much of in their last encounter. With Kakashi in the background, this fight (hidan vs kAKUzu), was probably partly to reveal Kakuzu's jutsu's to the sharingan and then a possible counter(sharingans properties). Hidan's counter was already known by the way.

Will continue this later :p

Yeah, I like these fights where Shikamaru's involved and does some strategy too. I've missed that since the end of Part 1, and it's good to see it back at work here. I wasn't too crazy about the first fight with Hidan and Kakuzu, but I'm liking this one a lot better so far.

1. Personally, I still think that Hidan is too much overrated and Shika seems to agree with me on this ^^ Hidan is strong, even stronger with his immortality jutsu. But, like Itachi said "Every strong opponent has a weakness". Up until now, we haven't saw what that immortality jutsu's weaknesses are, but Hidan biggest enemy is his ego.

Yeah, Hidan looks more and more like an one-trick pony. Agreed about the ego. And his lack of smarts, too... (probably lost some pieces of his brain along the way)

2. Yeah.. I'm pretty much surprised with Shikamaru. The only thing he lacks is high damage finisher. Looks like Shikamaru's brain is far better than two Akatsuki members. If only Shikamaru has a finisher at the caliber of Rasengan/Chidori, he doesn't need Kakashi at all ^^ (in terms of plans).

At this pace Shikamaru is improving, I wouldn't put it past him to have a high damage finisher eventually. But yeah, his mind is all he needs to win battles - especially if it's against only one opponent at a time.

3. I don't know the exact word (forgive my lack of vocab), but Kakuzu's ability looks like a mustard jelly in Dungeon & Dragons series. It can be harden and at the same time flexible. No wonder the big door at the temple was easily destroyed. If Kishi is as cliche as a human can be, Kakuzu's biggest threat will be ice >.> Too much Dungeons & Dragons.... Neverwinter Nights 2...

haha, interesting comparison. Actually, Kakuzu's hardening power reminds me a bit of the Marvel character Vision of the Avengers, who has the same ability. Also of the mutant Colossus of the X-Men.

5. Yeah.. I'm starting to thin that Hari Jizou is actually from the Alkimichi clan >.<

Haha. xD Perhaps a distant relative. It could just be a common jutsu shared by all spiky-maned men, though. >.>

7. Now... what with that huge crater? :XD How big is the new Rasengan to create that crater? A crater that big, must be created by huge tension of power concentration. Now, the power is already proven extraordinary even at its incomplete state. But, the only problem and still the only problem is, will it be practical in combat? (in terms of making it)

Yup, that was what I was wondering too.

8. I thought this chart will come out the first time elemental Chakra was introduced to us. I won't be saying about water>fire or wind>lightning. But I'm really interested on Kekkei Genkai right now ^^ Where does Wood fits? How about Ice? Ice = Water + Wind. Fire>Wind but Water>Fire. Now Water>Fire>Wind... Where is Ice?

Agreed, Ayah and I had a kind of chart drawn out on that a while ago and we haven't really seen any additions to it yet. I wonder if Kakuzu has another element mastery that he'll be adding to earth, though...

10. I don't think Kakuzu is done yet. It's still too early. Shika couldn't have made a complete plan against Kakuzu even if he has IQ of 1000. He didn't see Kakuzu's powers except for the tendrils, sewing ability and possibly body hardening. But the fact is, he doesn't know to what extent the powers are. Even he doesn't understand at all how Hidan's powers works except for activating it.

Agreed.

Hehe... Good comments :kkthumbs

Thanks, bax ^^

*Sigh*... yappari ka.... It seems I'm indeed the only one who's not crazy about Final Fantasy XII. I guess this means I don't know what makes a good RPG, and thus I shouldn't be thinking about doing it for a living.

But one of your complaints about not finding anything interesting - you might want to go back and replay it again, because these chests reappear and they have something different almost every time. Sometimes you'll get gold, yes - but sometimes you'll get the Demonsbane sword!

Anyway, that's neither here nor there, so let's move on...!

You gotta wonder if it was really part of Shikamaru's plan, though. Both he and Chouji seemed surprised when Kakashi made his attack. I'm guessing Kakashi improvised a bit based on his Sharingan analysis.

Agreed, but Shikamaru's plan did set up an opportunity for Kakashi to catch Kakuzu's trick. I think Shikamaru actually planned it to work so that HE would figure out a way to defeat one of them, though, and not Kakashi, but that's just my guess.

IIRC, the original line is "kore hodo to wa na"... which translates literally into something like "to think it's this [powerful]..." So he's referring to the (degree of) power of Naruto's jutsu, as opposed to Naruto himself.

Hm, thanks. So much for "Oh my God...!"

You might want to check out the "Compilation & Clarifications" thread in the Translations forum and tell us there whenever you see something that you would've translated differently.

Yes, but you also need to"fan the flames" or they'll go out. Basically, if the jutsu are at the same level, fire wins - but if they're at different levels (strong wind), fire goes out.

Getting to the point where I think that'll definitely play a part in the next Naruto-Sasuke duel, winner takes all, loser goes home.

That does not explain, however, how it is that wind beats lighting and how it is that lightning beats earth. I guess you could argue that electric current doesn't easily go through air, but earth dissipates it... that's why you "ground it." But then again I failed electric circuits in College, so don't listen to me.

Robotic Red agreed with you. I'm not going to worry too much about it right now (but if it becomes a major story point down the line, I'll hope for an explanation.)

Nah, I always think back to the time Sasuke sacrificed himself to save Naruto from Haku's needles...I mean, he *did* literally intend to die for him right then and there. He also volunteered his pitiful life for Naruto in the fight against Gaara.

True. I tend to forget these moments... I can't quite see them beyond the scene where Sasuke nearly killed Naruto himself with a hand thru the chest.

Which makes me wonder if Sakura will be "earth" - supposing we see her develop elemental jutsu, of course. It's a defensive element, mostly, so it would suit her well. Then again, if Kishi's intention is for Naruto and Sakura to fight Sasuke *together*, then maybe water would work best: water >> katon, wind >> raiton.

Earth wouldn't be bad either I suppose, it'd work well with her "inhumane strength." I'm still going for water, though. If we're going to stick to the Tsunade-Orochimaru-Jiraiya cycle, I'd say Sakura having the power of water against Sasuke would work pretty well, like you said.

The last time Kakashi said "Owari da" (it's over) was when he was fighting Zabuza for the first time... and we all know how *that* turned out.

Heh.

He also did not use the word "fuck", since it doesn't even exist in Japanese to begin with. "This is, to put it bluntly, really bad", is what he said. ;)

So he wasn't being a potty mouth after all... >.>

Actually, he was covering himself from the presumed blast when he was caught by Shikamaru's jutsu. Thus the wuss-looking posture. Check out the last panels of the previous chapter.

I knew that much. He was still making a fuss out of the whole thing though.

Thanks for dropping by Pete ;)

At least now he said the words after he blows the fatal strike kekekkekeke

Exactly XD

Nice observations GK, still, one question: Don't you love Hidan? ;_;

Not really :p I like him as a character within the story (especially in comedy relief moments) but you won't catch me starting any fanclubs for him XD

I stopped liking him when he laughed at Asuma while he was dying.

Thanks for comin by Stiluz, when's the next Zarosaki colored chapter? :D

Okay, I gotta head out now, I'll come back and answer the rest later ;)

Stiluz

December 05, 2006, 06:00 PM

Thanks for comin by Stiluz, when's the next Zarosaki colored chapter?

In time for christmas! I'd tell you which chapter and everything, but I can't spoil the christmas present you know. :amuse

WinterLion

December 05, 2006, 06:27 PM

Nice comments as usual, enjoyed reading them.

@Iwanin: I don't play games either. :p I feel quite lonesome in that when talking to the other mods.

Anyways, a few points first...

He also did not use the word "fuck", since it doesn't even exist in Japanese to begin with. "This is, to put it bluntly, really bad", is what he said. ;)

Very true. Japanese is one of the few languages that I'm aware of that doesn't really have swear words beyond "damn" and "shit." Doesn't mean you can't insult someone really well, just takes a little more skill and creativity to do it effectively. :XD

Now on to my comments in no particular order...

A few things I'm thinking... Since Kakuzu hasn't sensed Ino, then she must be just as good at hiding as Kakashi, or she's somewhere removed from the battle. Either way, I wonder how she's going to come into play.

And I don't think it's over just yet. It's too fast, and plus I doubt that the story would develop without the need for a backup. If Kakuzu really is dead, then Hidan has something up his sleeve, or some of the other Akatsuki will be coming for backup.

I think with the crater made in Naruto's training, only proves that the jutsu isn't complete. He's probably maximized the power but hasn't compacted it into the rasengan yet. If the completed ver of the jutsu did that or more, it would be highly ineffective. Uncontroled power will do nothing. Focused precise power is what's needed. Plus for team combat creating a crater of that size with any jutsu would be ineffective, as it would mean that none of his teammates can be anywhere near him without being hurt in the process. I think Kishi did that to show just how much power the new wind rasengan will pack when completed, but the actual form will be small, with the blades like we saw when Naruto first figured out how to do it.

Otherwise, you pretty much covered everything I wanted to say. I'll post more if I think of anything else. :p

Gold Knight

December 06, 2006, 09:21 AM

This probably will be my last round of responses, after this I'll be off-line for about a day or so and the next chapter will be out soon anyway. Thanks for commenting everybody!

2. I have a problem with Shika using Hidan's weapon so easily. It seems like it would have taken more than a bit of skill. Kishi probably agrees since he didn't actually show Shika moving Hidan. Hmm. Maybe Shika practiced?

Doesn't take much skill to just swing it around though, like a spiked polearm. But yeah, if it had been Hidan attacking, and not Shikamaru using Hidan's body, Kakuzu might have had a tougher time since Shikamaru doesn't know how to let the scythe go and use the rope to manipulate its turns and twists.

3. My guess is that it has something to do with magnetism.

Nice theory. Maybe only magnetism as it applies to Kakuzu's body though, because he didn't seem to be able to stop Hidan's scythe.

5. Chouji the Hedgehog :XD (first video game I ever played by the way). I guess Naruto growing his hair and taking after his master will never happen :(. I guess he is his own person and all that. :noworry

"Chouji the Hedgehog!" That would have made a nice label for the Chouji pic. Ah well...

Well, Naruto might grow his hair longer eventually. He ain't done growing up yet ;) And who knows, Sakura might have given him a haircut every now and then...

6. Yeah I didn't see this the first time I read the chapter, but I guess I lack the Sharigan. Nice that Kishi shows off the Sharigan seeing everything no matter how fast. There probably is some special requirement (like bloodline or experimenting on your body) to do it, or else Kakuza is done. There probably is or every other earth user would have/use that jutsu.

That's one cool thing of Naruto chapters - they do usually take at least a second rereading or three before you figure out everything that's going on, especially in battles.

7. My favorite page of this chapter and Yamato's reaction was sweet. Also a nice counterpoint to Yamato's Doryu Joheki and how he got a bit cocky?. Naruto can probably tear that to shreds now. I wonder if Yamato thinks Naruto can pass the fourth now.

Heh, well, if Kakashi believes it, Yamato would probably be hard pressed to argue. Especially after seeing the birth of that little crater.

8. Well the Buzz scanlation says "So if you countered Sasuke's fire jutsu with a wind jutsu of the same strength, you will only make the fire stronger." I think it opens the door for Naruto's ultimate jutsu beating any normal Katon from Sasuke. Now if Temari and Sasuke fought (I am totally ignoring the anime here) Sasuke's fire jutsu should win. Hmm, a thought just popped into my head that Temari's weasel uses wind manipulation on that sickle. Well not important :eyeroll. Anyway my belief is that Sasuke can do Amaterasu (or variation?) and that could be what he was going to unleash on team Yamato. Not as strong as Itachi's though. Something that Naruto's jutsu can equal. Of course this would bring up Naruto's own mystery jutsu, but that could have been a fluke on Kishi's side????????? :blink

Good observation about Sasuke and Temari. I forgot how exactly the fight went in the anime... I remember they never really fought in the manga, though, so it didn't really count.

But remember, I think Temari is the best character with wind manipulation in the series, still, and we were talking about how a wind jutsu of a stronger level than Sasuke's fire jutsu might be able to defeat him. Temari does have some incredibly strong wind jutsus in her arsenal.

As for Amaterasu, that seems to me like the ultimate fire jutsu. Who knows.

10. Seems like Kakashi deviated from Shika's plan since they were a bit shocked :tem to see him there or maybe they were just amazed at Raikiri. Either way Kakashi rocks. I still think Hidan is dead and hopefully Kakashi is the one who takes him out. I will really hate to see Kakashi being saved by Naruto from both of them. Taking out Hidan and needing rest sounds good to me. I think Deidara is around somewhere too. Hopefully this arc is leading to a bigger Akatsuki battle.

Well, maybe Kakashi's taken after Naruto a bit in being a "surprise ninja." >.> But yeah, I doubt Team 10 has had much experience seeing Kakashi do the Raikiri before. I don't think Kakashi will be the one to take Hidan out though - especially since Shikamaru has a bone to pick with him.

Would be interesting if it does lead to more Akatsuki coming in to do battle, but I'd say Zetsu instead of Deidara.

I agree with your score. Over too soon, but two days till Thursday. :smile-big :smile-big

Yup! Lookin' forward to it. ^^
Thanks for the comments!

First of all, great comments as always =D

I, too, don't thing that kakuzu is done yet, but far from that, I think that this attack won't effect him at all, and might be used even for his advantage (since Kakashi is now stuck with his hand in Kakuzu's chest).

Hm... good notion, he might actually harden himself and Kakashi wouldn't be able to pull his hand out. Still, that had to hurt, heh.

The elemental weaknesses and strengths are really messed up here, in my opinion anyways. You can't just draw a circle and explain it like that. It should be more reasonable like Pokemon, or whatever.

Probably just applies when the elemental jutsus are the same level, yeah.

In the fight with Haku, Sasuke tried to burn Haku's ice mirrors with a flame jutsu, and Haku said something like "your flame jutsu is far from the level it could melt my fire" or something like that. So I guess there are weaknesses and disadvantages to the combined elements, and it might be also a proof that even if the element itself is stronger, the jutsu has to be strong too to beat other strong weaker element jutsu.

Good memory there & nice scene to support that point of yours.

like i said one of the reasons to open the mangahelpers page GKs 10 comments. once again u echoed my thots on this chapter espeacially these facts 1. hidans not looking so tough now and 10. kakuzus def not dead (would be way 2 easy) and just in case pple were still wondering who the coolest character in d narutoverse is, we get a lil reminder :kkchidori.

N.B - Final fantasy fans unite!!!!!

Heh, glad you liked it. And yeah, FF rules!

Great comments Gk. You hate Hidan from the very bottom of your heart, don't you? xD Don't blame you though.

Again, not REALLY... >.> I did hate him for a few weeks, but since two chapters ago with that amusing exchange he had with Kakuzu at the cave, I couldn't hate him anymore. Still don't really like him much though.

Shikamaru controlling Hidan was pretty awesome. Seems like he can control him completely and without any trouble if he's using the chakra blade. Kakuzu having this weird body was bad luck. He could have removed his head right there!

Yup.

And Hidan does seem like the idiot of Akatsuki, but then again so does Tobi. Some times youy get the same feeling from Deidara, but Deidara feels more mature. Somehow. Also I was hoping for a new move from Chouji! Damn it. If he's still using the same move, he should at least be able to pierce through steel >_> Damn it.

I think Tobi may not be what he seems to be - I wouldn't be surprised if he actually turned out to be a spy on the Akatsuki. He's just playing the stupid ol' county boy to make the others believe he can't do them any harm.

As for Chouji, maybe he didn't think it was necessary to do a more powerful move at the time. Or it would've been chakra-draining, and the battle was just getting started...

Naruto's jutsu seems to kick ass too. Although I think like you do, that it's still like how it was when Naruto was training with Jiraiya, an incomplete Rasengan and therefor creating this much damage. But if a rasengan destroys your internal organs, I wonder what this one does?

Disintergate you? >.>

The element lecture was kind of..errm, obvious somewhat. Like you said, it's like most of RPGs. Each element has an advantage and disadvantage. And Naruto talking about how only he can save Sasuke was very sudden, but it's very Naruto-like. Oh what the hell. As long as he beats Sasuke to a pulp, I don't care what happens. I still believe that none can beat a Sharingan without a Sharingan in a 1-on-1 battle though! Maybe Naruto is different...

I don't really mind it all that much. I like when elemental powers play a part, and you had to figure that'd come in play somewhere down the line where battles of fire vs. water or water vs. earth or fire vs. wind and so on would be important.

True, Naruto would probably still have trouble against Sasuke's Sharingan. But that's where his unpredictability comes in as a big factor. Don't know if the Sharingan can predict Naruto's surprise moves beforehand, it can just see the most likely attacks (like in Rock Lee's case - Kimimaro found him easy to predict UNTIL he got drunk... heh.)

And seeing Kakashi pierce through steel and analyzing the situation was awesome! But I still don't believe that "he sees through all" is right. Like you said, I don't believe this is the end of Kakuzu. If he can move his hand around, why not his heart as well?

Agreed ;)

Still, if it IS the end of Kakuzu, then he couldn't have gone down to a more worthy opponent.

Kakashi, w00t!

Somehow I believe that Kishi is trying to let Yamato prove himself to us and to Sasuke one more time, unlike last time where he got beaten by Sasuke. Kakashi goes to help Shikamaru and gets hurt badly, even faints from over-using the sharingan, then to save time Yamato is sent with team 10 to find and retrieve Sasuke. This time Yamato will also get serious, so it will be interesting. You see, I don't think Kishi wants to show us Kakashi Sharingan vs Sasuke Sharingan just yet! That would be too much for us to handle.

Hmm...

All in all, I loved your comments. But they seem like I said, a bit Hidan-negative :/.

Thanks. And well, since I've said my piece on Hidan, I'll try to ease off a bit on that from here on, unless Kishimoto gives me another reason. ;)

In time for christmas! I'd tell you which chapter and everything, but I can't spoil the christmas present you know. :amuse

Can't wait. :D

Nice comments as usual, enjoyed reading them.

@Iwanin: I don't play games either. :p I feel quite lonesome in that when talking to the other mods.

Actually Iwanin does play games. He just doesn't have the same tastes as us. >.> He did a review of FF XII a while ago when he played it in Japanese and hated it. The rest of us, on the other hand, can't get enough.

Anyways, a few points first...Very true. Japanese is one of the few languages that I'm aware of that doesn't really have swear words beyond "damn" and "shit." Doesn't mean you can't insult someone really well, just takes a little more skill and creativity to do it effectively. :XD

Guess Hidan's not as much of a potty-mouth as we all thought, then? Curse Hisshou and his knack for using swear words in his translations! XD

Now on to my comments in no particular order...

A few things I'm thinking... Since Kakuzu hasn't sensed Ino, then she must be just as good at hiding as Kakashi, or she's somewhere removed from the battle. Either way, I wonder how she's going to come into play.

We don't know yet if Ino's just as good at hiding. Kakuzu and Hidan might have been aware of her but since she hadn't come into the battle yet, there wasn't anything they could do at the moment about her. Kakashi on the other hand... gotcha!

Well, we'll see where Ino comes in soon enough I'm sure.

And I don't think it's over just yet. It's too fast, and plus I doubt that the story would develop without the need for a backup. If Kakuzu really is dead, then Hidan has something up his sleeve, or some of the other Akatsuki will be coming for backup.

Yeah, I fully expect all the Akatsuki to go down very, very hard, just like Sasori. This would be too easy a defeat for one of them.

I think with the crater made in Naruto's training, only proves that the jutsu isn't complete. He's probably maximized the power but hasn't compacted it into the rasengan yet. If the completed ver of the jutsu did that or more, it would be highly ineffective. Uncontroled power will do nothing. Focused precise power is what's needed. Plus for team combat creating a crater of that size with any jutsu would be ineffective, as it would mean that none of his teammates can be anywhere near him without being hurt in the process. I think Kishi did that to show just how much power the new wind rasengan will pack when completed, but the actual form will be small, with the blades like we saw when Naruto first figured out how to do it.

I agree.

Otherwise, you pretty much covered everything I wanted to say. I'll post more if I think of anything else. :p

Alright ;) Any spoilers yet, though? >.> *Goes to check*[br]Posted on: December 06, 2006, 09:11:53 AM_________________________________________________Just saw the spoilers for the next chapter - interesting, to say the least...!

Guess that's it for me in this thread, though, see ya guys next time ;)

weixiaobao

December 06, 2006, 06:09 PM

Anyway, great job... this chapter is the exceptional interesting for all the latest chapters so far, same thing with the comments..just plain great.

Gold Knight

December 11, 2006, 03:04 PM

Apologies to all my readers here - but no 334 review this week. I just don't have the time.